


Between

by AuroraCloud



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: M/M, Post-Episode: s03e13 Last of the Time Lords, Sex in a TARDIS, background Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 08:54:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11756346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraCloud/pseuds/AuroraCloud
Summary: It was a moment when Jack didn't want to hear the TARDIS materializing behind him.The Doctor comes across Jack in the middle of an alien-hunt, and they work out some issues. In various manners.





	Between

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [2017 Summer/Winter Holidays](http://wintercompanion.livejournal.com/261922.html) at Winter Companion.
> 
> Many thanks to Alafaye for beta!

Standing in the remains of a pretty vicious battle was exactly the moment when Jack didn’t want to hear the whoosh of the TARDIS materialising some fifty feet behind him. There were alien guts and blood, two corpses, as well as scorch marks and bullet casings from their guns and his, respectively. He was really tired at the end of a long day and he was without his team, as he’d sent them all home by the time the alert arrived. He’d almost died again and he wanted coffee, pizza, and a nice, gentle massage. None of those things seemed to be available now.

He had a hunch the Doctor wouldn’t care that the others had shot first.

He turned out to be right.

The Doctor, in the same pinstriped brown suit that he’d worn the last time Jack had seen him, emerged from the TARDIS, and looked horrified at the scene around him. He turned to Jack.

”Before you start preaching, I had to,” Jack snapped.

”Had to, did you?” Oh, that superior tone. ”Is this how you defend the Earth?” 

”Sometimes,” Jack spat back. ”When I must. Don’t look at me. I didn’t go asking for trouble. The Rift decided to dump these two on us today. They were starting to eat the locals, so I chased them out of the suburbs.” 

”And you just killed them? Without parley?” 

”Couldn’t see what else to do.” 

”Very Torchwood.” The Doctor’s lip curled down disapprovingly. 

”Yeah, that’s what we do here in Torchwood Cardiff. Get rid of those who are threatening the Earth and who we can’t reason with. I haven’t yet found any way of parleying with Grixi in this stage of their evolution. Also, they communicate in wavelengths of light. I didn’t have a colour translation tool handy.” 

”Oh, not on your budget?” 

"Told you, we’re different from Torchwood One.” 

The Doctor looked at him coolly. ”In any other sense except the budget?” 

It was just too much, hearing the Doctor disdain that which Jack worked for all of his life. The next moment, Jack had shoved the Doctor to a wall, holding his wrists tightly in his hands. ”Say that one more time…” 

”And what? You’ll kill me, too?” 

Jack’s arms slumped to his sides, letting go of the Doctor. ”Don’t be stupid,” he said, and stepped back. ”We really are different here. You don’t have any idea how much trouble Torchwood One gave me. Especially those last years. Yvonne hated me. Would have gotten rid of me if she could.” 

He saw a softening in the Doctor’s eyes, the corners of his mouth suddenly widening towards a grin. ”I expect she would.” 

”Why, you think our management styles don’t quite match?” 

”There might be a few stylistic differences, yeah.” The Doctor grinned. He moved a bit closer to Jack.

Jack wanted to respond to the grin, but he was feeling too moody and wary. It was funny: after he’d tried so hard to find the Doctor again, right now he wished the Time Lord would just go. Maybe Jack would still have time to find Ianto before late night. He could try to coax Ianto to come to that bar where they played horrid 1980s pop songs, maybe convince him to dance or snog in public. But here he was, trying to defend his job to a morally superior Time Lord. Odd that it was suddenly the Doctor chasing for his company rather than the other way around. Not that he seemed particularly fond of Jack now. ”So what are you doing here, anyway?” Jack asked. 

”Thought I’d check up on how you’re doing.” 

Jack glared at him. ”Not impressed, huh?” 

The Doctor looked uneasy. Then he frowned. ”Something you said there. No, not now. A few moments ago. Before you lunged at me in the less than flattering sense. Wait, now I know, colours! Did you ever meet Grixi in their mating season?” 

”No, we only ran across young ones — what do you mean?” 

”Those remains.” The Doctor nodded his head towards the remarkably messy corpses. ”They’re moss green, not jade green.” 

”Didn’t know you took a fancy to interior decorating.” 

”I wouldn’t decorate my interiors with that. But if they’re moss green, that means they’ve very recently been laying eggs.” 

”Oh.” Jack spun around to stare at the remains. 

The Doctor was by his side, brimming with curiosity. ”Maybe we’ll check out how recently.” 

The next moment, they were both crouched by the remains of the corpses. Their shoulders were almost touching as they did so. Jack could not help feeling a certain tension that had nothing to do with the annoyance and indignation he also felt towards the Doctor now. The Doctor, in any case, seemed unmoved. He wouldn’t glance at Jack at all — was his presence still repugnant? 

The Doctor was staring intently at the remains, his lips drawn tight together, scanning them with the screwdriver. ”They’re usually hostile right after laying their eggs, so… Yup, better go and find the kiddies before they incubate. Wait, let’s get rid of these. Could be bad for the ecosystem.” He switched the setting of the screwdriver. ”Here, the right frequency of radiowaves should do it.” And after a moment, the remains dissolved into pretty foul-smelling liquid that evaporated into the air. 

”They came from somewhere around there,” Jack said, wracking his brain for what he knew about these creatures. Water, right. ”The river! They’ve got to be by the river.” 

They did, indeed, find the egg cache. It was light green, still clearly visible in the slowly darkening evening light. Jack was about to empty his gun on them, but the Doctor stopped him. ”This is better, trust me.” He dissolved them with the same screwdriver setting, his face set into a determined mask. ”No using the Earth as a breeding ground.” He stood there, looking hard and fragile. 

”You had to,” Jack said. ”You’d kill a lot more if you didn’t.” The Doctor was pale, so he added: ”They wouldn’t survive without their parents, anyway. That was merciful.” 

Why was he comforting the Doctor? Well, telling people they had to do something rough for the greater good was his job, for starters. And the Doctor might treat him any way at all, and he still would not stop wanting to do everything for him. Sad but true. He put his hand on the Doctor’s arm, startling him. But at least the Doctor didn’t pull away. He stood there, looking at Jack’s hand as thought it was a strange, curious animal. Jack took a moment to fondle the Doctor’s wrist, earning a surprised glance. Jack led the Doctor away from the destroyed nest. There was something else he wanted to say before he got too caught up in hopeless flirting. 

”Doctor, about Torchwood One. I didn’t even know what they were doing until it was too late. We were going crazy trying to figure out what was causing those ’ghosts’.” Tosh had barely slept for weeks. ”She didn’t trust us, wouldn’t tell us anything. Here in Cardiff, we’re not doing fancy experiments that put the Earth in danger. We take care of the Rift, and we get rid of those hostiles we can’t deal with otherwise. That’s all.” 

The Doctor was tugging his earlobe, looking at Jack thoughtfully. He probably had opinions on Jack’s methods for getting rid of hostiles, but it seemed he was willing to put that to rest. ”You really didn’t know what was going on in Canary Wharf?” 

”We knew they were messing with something, but couldn’t find out what. Do you think I’d have been stupid enough not to try to stop it? Giving up the world for Cybermen isn’t high on the list of my priorities. And my team almost got killed, too.” He decide to not delve into the matter of Ianto. There was something else to say to the Doctor. ”I thought Rose was dead for a whole year. Kept wondering if I could’ve done something. If I’d been there…” 

The Doctor shoved his hands into his pockets, looking uneasy. ”Maybe you’d have come up with a better plan than I did.” 

Jack raised his eyebrows. ”What’s this? You’re saying you messed up something?” The taunt came up only half-hearted. 

”Jack,” the Doctor said wearily. ”You’ve no idea how many things I’ve messed up. And I don’t want to have messed up you, too.” 

Jack bit back the _Well, you did_. He started walking back to where they’d started. ”Doctor, this is what I am, like it or not. Someone’s got to do the dirty work around here. You were happy to let me do the fighting for you in the Game Station. Not a problem back then that I was a soldier, was it? But once it was done, you left me. How convenient.” Oh, not such a good job of hiding the hurt. Damn it. 

The Doctor’s eyes were wide. ”Jack, that wasn’t why —” 

”How could I know that?” 

”Jack, you know I wouldn’t just use you. You were — are — my friend.” 

He wanted to soften at that. The way those gorgeous brown eyes were looking at him, softer and warmer, as though hoping for… something? The Doctor was stepping closer, too. But the anger was still welling up inside Jack, the bitterness, demanding. He crossed his arms around his chest, staring defiantly at the Doctor. ”How should I know?” 

The Doctor flinched. Good. 

”You think you always know what to do,” Jack continued angrily. ”Yeah, usually you do. But the rest of us just have to muddle through the best we can. And then you come and judge us. Like what you did to Harriet Jones.” 

”What about her?” The tension in the Doctor’s voice went up by several levels. 

”As far as I know my Earth history, she was supposed to be PM a whole lot longer than she was. Your meddling for the sake of your high and mighty morals gave the rest of us a hell lot of trouble.” 

The Doctor looked… betrayed? Hurt? ”You know what she did.” 

”Yeah, and it made sense. She was right; you aren’t always here to help Maybe she shouldn’t have fired at them, yeah, but I understand her reasons. She’s just another human being who had to make a tough decision in a short time.” If the Doctor was going to hate him now, let him. ”We would have been better off with her than with Harold Saxon, don’t you think?” 

”Well, maybe we wouldn’t have been stuck with him if you hadn’t leapt on the TARDIS and brought us to the end of the Universe where we found him.” 

”Yeah, ’cause I so knew what would happen when you wouldn’t explain what had happened to me.” Words tumbled out as Jack tried not to feel hurt. ”How about talking to me instead of running away again, so I had no choice but to leap on the TARDIS?” 

Surprisingly, the Doctor hung his head. ”I guess it comes down to it,” he said strangely meekly. ”My responsibility.” 

What could Jack say? It _was_ , in the end, his responsibility. Yet Jack wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life blaming the Doctor for everything, or letting the Doctor do the same. ”None of us meant for it to happen,” he finally said, venom gone. 

”Yeah, well…” The Doctor was rocking back and forth on his feet, hands stuck in pockets, staring at his trainers. Finally he said: ”Guess it was inevitable. I mean, he’d been there for all those months when we left. You and Martha were already going to vote for him. Guess we were going to end up there no matter what.” 

”Gotta love cause-and-effect loops.” Jack snorted. ”And I’m never, ever trusting my political sense again.” 

”Mmm, well, he hypnotized everyone. We’ve been through that. Tell me something else. Why Torchwood? Why’d you join them?” 

”Not much of a choice, originally. They kept studying me.” He glanced at the Doctor. His eyes flashed dark and angry at the mention of studying. Jack figured he didn’t have to explain. ”Then they tried to recruit me. Figured I could use a break from the torture and be useful. Maybe make their ways a bit more decent while I was at it. And I’d figured out you weren’t coming back for me.” Damn the emotion threatening to take over his voice. ”Look, all that time I’ve been working for them, I’ve tried to make them better. Not just shoot aliens on sight. Find out which ones are harmful and which ones aren’t. Help if we can. But there’s only so much I can do.” 

”You’re the leader.” 

”And that means I can just magic away all the tough solutions, does it?” The Doctor looked away. Jack sighed. ”I didn’t ask to be the leader. It was just that finally there was nobody else. Literally nobody else.” He didn’t feel like sharing the details of the Worst New Year Ever. The Doctor would think Torchwood even more insane than he already did. Jack grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing the Doctor to look at him. ”You know I’m not really a leader. Not the one to make the final decision. I wish…” He wished he could still be saving the world under the Doctor’s command, yes. But he also didn’t wish it. He didn’t know. He just wanted him to understand. ”I’m a Captain, not a General. But I don’t know what else to do.” 

The Doctor stepped a few steps towards Jack. He was suddenly very close, so close it made Jack’s blood heat up a notch. The Doctor stood, studying him intently, as if trying to uncover everything Jack wasn’t telling. ”You must have hated me, Jack,” he said quietly. 

Jack smiled weakly. ”Sometimes.” 

The Doctor was rocking back and forth on his feet, hands still shoved in his pockets, looking uncertain. ”I should have come and told you what happened, at least. Try to give you a lift someplace nicer.” 

”Yeah. Well, here we are.” He smiled ruefully. ”Cardiff has its charms, really. Wouldn’t have wanted to miss them. Maybe it worked out okay in the end.” 

The Doctor looked exasperated. ”You shouldn’t admire me so much. I’m a coward.” 

Jack shrugged. ”Can’t help it. Never could.” 

And suddenly the Doctor was at him, grabbing him by his coat lapels, and practically shoving his mouth on Jack’s for a searing kiss. Oh. Maybe Jack had been reading some of the tension wrong. Well, he wasn’t about to complain about this turn of events. 

The Doctor pressed himself against Jack’s body, and Jack’s arms naturally entwined around him. He tasted like like tea and an age-old library and running and something else, like an adventure in colour Jack had never seen, and he drank it in eagerly even as he was becoming breathless. When the Doctor finally let him go, he was dizzy and gasping for air. 

The Doctor pressed kisses everywhere he could; the corners of Jack's mouth, his jawline, his neck. He quickly returned to Jack's mouth, almost hungrily. In between, he said half breathlessly, ”You shouldn’t forgive me. You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t.” After each word, his touch and his kisses became more desperate. 

”How long have you been alone?” Jack managed. His mouth was sore already. ”Since we left.” 

”Don’t know. Too long.” The Doctor made a contented sigh as Jack’s hands snaked underneath his coat, touching his sides and his back through the fabric of his shirt. The Doctor’s body writhed underneath his touch, responsive, so alive. Oh, so alive. 

Jack began to assert more control over the kisses, drawing them out to calm down the ferocious pace, making it slower, longer, more tender. He had never got to know the Doctor’s current incarnation by touch like he had, in some fortunate moments, known the previous one, and he didn’t want to hurry. 

The Doctor was grinding his hips against Jack’s, and Jack could feel he was hard. His hand clutched Jack’s back in a pleading manner that wasn’t all lust, though. Jack bent down to suck a tender kiss on the Doctor’s neck, and was rewarded with a raw, tender moan. He felt hysterically close to tears. So much the both of them had screwed up, so much they’d never be able to get right, but this, right now —

”Come into the TARDIS,” the Doctor breathed, his voice scratchy. ”Please. I need —” 

Jack felt a thrill sweep through him. ”Your wish is my command,” he said, gently drawing his hands through the Doctor’s hair. 

And so it would always be, no matter how much he’d resent it. 

They weren’t far from the TARDIS. Good. Any longer to go, and the Doctor might change his mind about needing Jack. Oh, Jack was still half mad at him. But that didn’t mean he didn’t want the Doctor. Or love him, damn it. 

When they were inside, the Doctor kicked the door shut behind them, then, and fervently pushed Jack against one of the corals growing from the walls. The next moment he was assaulting Jack’s mouth and neck with searing kisses, occasionally stopping to inhale his scent. Jack grinned. Apparently Ianto Jones wasn’t the only one who enjoyed 51st century human pheromones. 

Jack’s clothes were torn off him in quick succession by eager, exploring hands. He drew in a heated breath, and idly wondered if he should start worrying about doppelgängers. 

Though it was exactly like the Doctor. That if this should happen, it would be fierce and tumultuous and completely demanding. That was how it had been _before_ , too. He stopped his mind going there. It’d just hurt too much. And then he stopped thinking when the Doctor’s hand reached for him just _right._

The Doctor touched, and touched, and oh _God_ , how good it felt. Jack’s hips surged helplessly, and the Doctor met his eye, grinning and continuing to grope mercilessly. After a moment, Jack pulled himself together enough to shift their positions and press the Doctor back against the coral. He went down on his knees and undid the Doctor’s trousers, pulling them down with his underwear. 

He pressed his face into the Doctor’s crotch, taking the hardened length carefully into his mouth. There were particular tricks to pleasuring Time Lords — or at least one particular Time Lord — that he had learned with the Doctor’s previous body, and he was happy to discover that some of them worked in this regeneration, too. The Doctor moaned appreciatively and fisted his hands into Jack’s hair. Jack inhaled the smell of him, almost human yet different. Still, the throbbing and the lustful sounds he made when Jack sucked and licked him were familiar enough. His hands pulled at Jack’s hair, exquisite twinges of pain mixed with pleasure. 

Suddenly, the Doctor pushed Jack away. ”Stop it, Captain,” he snapped. His characteristic annoyance sounded odd when his voice was rough with lust. ”I’ve got other plans for you.” His eyes sparkled like in Jack’s fantasies only. 

”Oh?” Jack leaned back in to nuzzle his face against the Doctor’s thigh. ”You’ve got plans, for _me_? Can’t wait to find out.” 

The Doctor leaned down to grab his shoulders and yanked him up with his surprising strength. ”No need to wait,” he snarled, and leaned in quickly to bite and suck Jack’s neck just above his collarbone. Then he pushed Jack away and spun him around. ”You. To the console. I’m going to fuck you till you scream, right there.” 

Jack drew in a shuddering breath, feeling on the verge of coming right there. The Doctor, aroused to the point of profanity — the mental image of what the Doctor had just said he was going to do to him… 

”Yes, sir,” he purred, and happily let the Doctor haul him to the console. He pressed his hands on the sides of the panel in front of him. 

”Now, keep your wandering hands away from all the switches and levers and… stuff,” the Doctor panted as his own hands wandered all over Jack’s arse. ”Don’t want to find us is the middle of the 43rd century Calesthenian Civil War while I’m inside you.” 

Jack didn’t have time for a saucy reply as the Doctor thrusted two fingers into his mouth. Jack obediently licked and sucked them to the best of his ability, drawing another moan from the Doctor, who pressed his erection against Jack. Jack flexed his hips, moving back into him, to feel that delicious twitching and hear the Doctor moan and curse. The Doctor’s hips rolled back against him, and he bit into the back of Jack’s neck, so hard there’d be teethmarks. Jack hissed with pleasure and pain. The Doctor jerked his fingers out of Jack’s mouth and moved enough to push his hand against Jack's arse to slowly and deliciously spread him open. Jack threw back his head, enjoying the sensation. 

The preparation was hard, fast, and lustful. He wouldn’t have expected anything else. As soon as he was ready, the Doctor pulled out his fingers, grabbed Jack’s hips hard, pressed against him and into him. Jack winced at the initial pain, but welcomed it, too. The Doctor was here, in him, around him, satisfying goodness knew what frustrations and desires in Jack’s body rather than pushing him away, and Jack wanted him there. Pleasure rolled through him as the Doctor moved in him, and Jack thrust back eagerly, tensing his thighs and arms to stay upright against the console. Jack was firmly fixed here between the Doctor and the timeship, between his love and lust and frustration at this impossible man, between what they no longer had and did not yet have, and he loved it that way. 

The Doctor was still half clothed, his coat fabric and buttons rubbing against Jack’s bare back. His fingers moved fast along Jack’s cock, drawing guttural cries and shudders of pleasure out of him, while he thrust into Jack again and again. Lust boiled inside Jack and he didn’t care about anything anymore. Not about their arguments, about the past, anything except this moment in between, this moment of being thoroughly done and had by a frustrated, wonderful, infuriating Time Lord. 

It was over too soon. The Doctor stiffened, cried out and came violently inside him, fingers digging painfully into Jack’s muscles. He sank against Jack, heaving and panting. His hands continued lazily on Jack’s cock, coaxing him towards the climax. Jack felt vaguely used, and he loved it. He stared at the TARDIS controls in front of him. The Doctor wanted him like this, bent over the console of his beloved ship, and that thought brought him over as the Doctor gave him a delicious squeeze. He came in a quick wave of heat rolling through his body, his come spurting over the console. 

The Doctor sighed, finally pulled out, and relaxed against Jack, holding him strangely tenderly. Jack stood shakily, all fight gone out of him in the blissful post-orgasmic haze. He closed his eyes and turned his head, seeking the Doctor’s mouth. 

But the Doctor avoided the kiss, instead slipping in front of Jack with his arms still around Jack’s waist. He slid one hand to the console, touching the come speckling the screen and the controls. He pulled his fingers to his mouth, and finally looked at Jack, grinning wickedly and then licking the come off his fingers, the grin never leaving his eyes. 

”I think she likes it,” the Doctor said, and Jack wondered if he had heard a change in the hum of the TARDIS. 

”Wait,” he said. ”Did we just have threesome sex with a TARDIS?” 

The Doctor chuckled. ”No, that’s a more complicated affair. And you wouldn’t miss that when it happened.” 

Jack raised his eyebrows. ”Really? Can I try some time?” 

The wicked grin only widened. ”We’ll have to consider. If you’re a very good boy.” 

Jack gave an exaggerated sigh. ”No chance, then. I’m never a good boy.” 

The Doctor chuckled and leant to him, capturing his mouth in a slow, languid kiss. Jack sank into it, sloppily passionate, all tongues and exploration. He wanted to make this last when the shagging had been over so quickly. Which didn’t mean he minded. His body burned with the aftermath of a hot, frantic fuck, and the Doctor was still _there_. Responding to his kiss, twining his tongue lazily around Jack’s, making little sounds of pleasure as Jack sucked on his lower lip. 

When they came up for air, the Doctor rested his forehead against Jack’s. ”A good kind of bad,” he muttered. 

It was an opening for one of Jack’s infamous flirty lines. It wouldn’t even be trouble. Instead, he found his throat tightening suspiciously and his eyes tingling with a salty burn. Unable to do anything else, he placed a gentle kiss on the Doctor’s lips. 

When he could think properly again, he straightened up. He looked around. His clothes were all over the floor. 

”Well,” he said, fighting for casualty and confidence. ”I always wanted to get thoroughly dishevelled in the TARDIS console room.” 

The Doctor’s eyes travelled leisurely up and down his body. ”You would,” he said nonchalantly. ”Now, I think I need a shower.” 

Jack tried not to let his heart sink. He could hardly expect anything different from the Doctor. This Doctor, at least. He was lucky to not be called _wrong_ again. And he was done trying to win the Doctor’s love and approval. If he couldn’t have it anymore, then he couldn’t, and it might break him apart but he’d survive that. He had a life that was his, after all, and a lover who wouldn’t run away from him and leave him behind, then flippantly make excuses for it. A lover he was about to get back to, regardless of how enticing a certain Time Lord could be. 

Jack tried to shove all thoughts out of his head and concentrate on admiring the Doctor’s pretty ass as he made his way to one of the doorways. 

Then the Doctor stopped, turned, and looked over his shoulder. His smirk told Jack that the Doctor knew exactly where his eyes had been. Whether he knew where his mind had been, Jack could only guess. ”You know,” the Doctor said, ”you need a shower, too.”  


*****

  
Afterwards, the Doctor made them tea. While he was fussing about with the teapot, looking gorgeous in his shirt sleeves with his hair wet and his body languid from sex, Jack concentrated on admiring him and tried to avoid thinking of the inevitable.

The Doctor deposited two steaming tea mugs on the table, looked at Jack, and Jack knew it was coming. 

The Doctor sat down, and kept looking at him. Insecurity? Fascinating. 

”You could still come travel with me, you know,” the Doctor said. 

Jack closed his eyes. Some strings in his heart were being furiously tugged. He took a moment to battle with them. His choice was clear, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. He opened his eyes. ”No, I couldn’t.” 

The Doctor cocked his head to the side. ”Why not?” he asked. 

”I told you.” 

”Responsibility, yeah. But you’ve always been the one to do what you wanted —” 

”You don’t know me as well as you used to,” Jack said and took a sip of the tea, scalding though it was. 

The Doctor looked nervous. 

Jack took pity on him. ”And that’s not all,” he said. 

The Doctor brightened up. ”Some pretty young thing waiting for you back home?” 

Yes, Jack almost answered, but didn’t. Ianto and their beautiful, lovely mess, the startling strength of his own feelings, none of it belonged in this conversation and this strange in-between moment. ”Maybe,” he said. ”What I mean is, all those years I spent waiting for you and waiting to get my own life back — I didn’t realise that I had developed a life of my own. And now I’m not going to let it slip away.” He met the Doctor’s eyes. ”I have eternity, it seems, but the people I’m with, they don’t. They’ll be gone one day, probably all too soon, and I’ll never have them back. I almost abandoned them, and now I’m going to stick with them. As long as I still have them. It’s my life now and I’m going to keep it.” 

The Doctor’s brown eyes were unusually sombre. ”Yeah,” he finally said. ”I guess.” 

It took Jack a while to realise that the Doctor was envious. 

”Doesn’t mean I’ll never want to,” Jack said, trying to bring levity back into his voice. ”Though I expect you’ll have moved on by then. Lousy timing, we have.” 

”Oh, I don’t know,” the Doctor said, eyes twinkling now. ”Sometimes you have really good timing. Like you did, just a while ago, in the showers.” He grinned. Jack met it with a grin of his own. 

”Glad you appreciate.” 

”Mmmh. Well, time is something we both have a lot of.” 

He held Jack’s gaze steady for a while. ”Yeah,” Jack said. He quickly swallowed more of his tea. 

”I could make toast,” the Doctor said. ”You must be hungry after all that exertion.” 

”Wouldn’t mind,” Jack said. ”But then I have to get back. Defending the Earth, and all that.” 

”I understand,” the Doctor said. He got up, and leaned across to kiss Jack on the lips. Then he turned and went to find the toast.


End file.
